Wicked City

Detectives Jock Roth and Paco Contreras track a killer who targets aspiring starlets in Los Angeles; a struggling journalist may be the killer's next target.

Jack and Paco get a lead on the serial killer’s next possible victim and race against the clock to try and track her down before the killer gets to her; Kent struggles over whether or not to invite Betty to take part in his murderous rampage when it becomes clear that she doesn’t trust him and may leave him, and Jack and Paco continue to search for Karen, who has disappeared from the club.

Betty struggles with the revelation that Kent is a serial killer when he gives her a copy of the novel “Phantom of the Opera” and asks her if she can love him the way Christine loved the Phantom. Meanwhile, Jack and Paco trace the ownership of the lair and identify the body they found in the floorboards as Vera Bennett, a former librarian. During the investigation at the library where Vera used to work, they run into Karen and Diver, who confess about a letter Kent sent them. Hoping to get additional clues, they are shocked when they uncover a huge surprise on a bookshelf. Later, Dianne points out Jack, and the killer might not be so different after all.

Jack focuses on a woman from the past who may have been the catalyst for the murderer’s current killing spree; Betty decides to go all-in as Kent’s partner, and together they troll a club in search of a victim; Karen is offered a job with Rolling Stone, which does not please Diver; a menacing old flame of Betty’s reemerges and sets his sights on trying to reignite their troubled past; and Dianne finds herself in dire straits when her allegiances are questioned by a powerful drug lord.

Jack and Paco ask LA Notorious to run another story about the killer, with the shot of Kent as a child on the front cover. This leads to one of Kent's schoolmates contacting the police, who names him as Cooper Flynn. After the story is published, Kent visits Karen at her home, waking her in the night. He asks her to be his voice, not the police's. In return, Karen asks for a personal interview with Kent. Elsewhere, Diver is trying to locate Bucket, unaware he is dead and that Dianne has taken his place as manager of the drug ring. He later spots Jack and Dianne kissing, and takes photos of the two. The detectives decipher that the killer must work in the motor industry, due to his access to vintage cars. They also theorize that these cars are where the murders take place. This discovery leads the police to Kent's auto shop, where Jack finds blood in the water pipes. Kent later arrives at the shop, but drives away before any police officers can see his face. Meanwhile, Betty's old flame, Jimmy Lovett, suspects Kent of being a drug dealer. He trades his silence on the matter for sexual favors from Betty, who reluctantly agrees. During their meeting one night, Betty stabs Jimmy to death with a knife gifted to her by Kent. Later, Kent babysits his neighbor's daughter, Mary, who becomes suspicious of Kent after watching a TV report on the killer.

Jack and Paco question Kent's co-workers and find out his "real" name, Kent Grainger, but no records are found about him. When going through files from the auto shop, Paco discovers a Xerox of Kent's I.D. Kent visits Betty at the hospital; she takes him to the morgue so they won't be seen, where he proceeds to break up with her, fearing that the police will catch them both if they don't part ways. Kent dyes his hair in an attempt to conceal his identity. His acquaintance, Bobby, creates new I.D.'s for him; he then ties her up and locks her in a closet. Meanwhile, Betty disguises herself as a makeup lady and visits Jack's wife, Allison, at their home. When leaving, she takes a photo of the family and a set of keys to the house. Mary calls the police's hotline to give Kent's address, but her dyslexia mixes up the house number. Elsewhere, during a live interview on Eyewitness News, Karen gets a call from Kent, who says that the story hasn't yet had its climactic ending. Diver identifies a song playing in the background of the call as "Suicide Solution" by Ozzy Osbourne, and suggests Kent might kill himself. When the police realize Mary's mistake, they arrive at her house just as Kent causes an explosion in his home across the street. Betty arrives home, thinking Kent is dead, but he surprises her with the fact that the burned corpse belongs to Jimmy. As the two kiss, the residents of Los Angeles think the Hollywood Slayer's reign of terror has ended.